Olive oil basics
Why Does Olive Oil Taste Bitter and Catch the Throat?
A young extra virgin olive oil bites the tongue and catches the back of the throat, and a first spoonful can make you cough. That is the oil behaving normally, not a bottle that has turned.
The short answer
Bitterness on the tongue and the peppery catch at the back of the throat are flavour attributes of a young extra virgin olive oil, not signs of spoilage. Both fade as a bottle ages, so an oil that tastes of almost nothing is often an old one. Spoiled oil tastes entirely different: crayons, stale nuts or damp cardboard.
A first spoonful of a young extra virgin oil can sting. The throat tightens, a cough sometimes follows, and the obvious conclusion is that the bottle has gone off.
It has not. Here is what the bite really is, and what a spoiled oil does instead.
No, a bitter olive oil is not off
Bitterness across the tongue and a peppery catch at the back of the throat are two of the three attributes trained tasters record as positive in extra virgin olive oil. A spoonful that makes you cough is doing what a young oil does.
What the bitterness and the pepper are
Olives carry compounds called polyphenols, and two of them do most of the talking. Oleuropein and its relatives give the clean bitterness felt across the tongue. Oleocanthal gives the pungency, felt later and lower down, as a catch at the back of the throat.
- Bitter is a taste, on the tongue, immediate.
- Pungent is a catch in the throat, a beat behind.
- Green olives picked early carry more of both than ripe black fruit.
A bland oil is usually an old oil
Both attributes fade with time. The pepper goes first, then the bitterness, and last the fruit, until a bottle pours smooth and tastes of very little. Smoothness is not a sign of quality. An oil with no bite left is usually one that has been open a long while.
Air, light and heat set the pace of that fade. What the pressing itself contributes is set out in what cold-pressed olive oil really means.
How a tasting panel describes an oil
A sensory panel scores an oil on three positive attributes and checks it for defects. The tasters work from blue glasses so that colour cannot influence the score, warm the sample in the hand, and describe what they find in a fixed vocabulary.
| Term | Describes | Where you notice it |
|---|---|---|
| Fruity | Fresh olives, cut grass, green tomato | Nose, then the first sip |
| Bitter | A clean bitterness, not harsh | Across the tongue |
| Pungent | Peppery catch, sometimes a cough | Back of the throat, later |
| Rancid | Crayons, putty, stale nuts | Nose, before you sip |
| Musty | Damp cardboard | Nose, then flat on the palate |
How to taste olive oil at home
Tasting from a small glass rather than a teaspoon takes a minute and settles the question. Warmth releases the aroma, covering the glass holds it in, and drawing air across the oil spreads it over the palate so the throat gets its turn.
- Pour a tablespoon into a small glass.
- Warm it, one palm under, one over the top.
- Swirl, uncover, and smell it twice.
- Sip a little and hold it on the tongue.
- Draw air in through your teeth.
- Swallow and wait. The pepper arrives last.
Which dishes suit a bitter oil
A strongly bitter, peppery oil is a seasoning, and it wants food with enough weight to meet it. On a delicate or sweet dish the same oil takes over and the cook loses what is being cooked. Warmth softens the bite, so a gentle pan mellows it.
- Suits it: bean and lentil soups, grilled lamb, roasted vegetables, tomatoes on bread, labneh and hummus.
- Fights it: mayonnaise, delicate steamed fish, milk desserts, plain sponge cakes.
- Softens it: roasting, gentle frying, or stirring the oil into a warm dish.
What a spoiled oil tastes like instead
A spoiled oil announces itself in the nose, before any of it reaches the tongue. Bitterness has no smell; rancidity does. Where a young oil smells green and tastes sharp, a finished one smells waxy and tastes greasy and flat, with no catch at the throat.
- Crayons or putty. The commonest fault, and the easiest to name.
- Stale nuts. Old walnuts, or the bottom of a peanut jar.
- Wine gone to vinegar. Sharp and sour, from fermented fruit.
- Damp cardboard. A cellar smell, flat behind it.
Before paying, read how to choose authentic extra virgin olive oil in Malaysia.
The short version
Bitter and peppery is the taste of a young oil. Both fade, so a bland bottle is usually an old one. Taste from a warmed glass, smell before you sip, and judge a fault by crayons, not by bite.